Phyllis Smallman
I've been addicted to mysteries since childhood; from Trixie Belden to Agatha Christie, I loved them all.
They explained what happens when greed, love,and jealousy get out of hand.
More than that, they showed me worlds far from my own small place in southern Ontario. And who doesn't love a puzzle?
Mysteries are the great epics of our time, a hero risking his own life to discover truth, right a wrong, or deal out justice.
But the best mysteries really aren't just about crime.
They explore the human mind and condition, but most of all they hold up a mirror to the society we live in, warts and all, and without the makeup.
We see characters we hope never to encounter in our real lives, wife beaters, rapists, thieves and psychopaths, people we are only too aware exist in the real world.
Very often, the stories are about those left to deal with the fallout of evil and how they cope.
A story set in the modern world necessarily deals with the problems of everyday life, with mental illness, addiction and all those other problems we encounter
daily as individuals.
These days, my favorite mystery is always the one I'm currently working on because I basically write to amuse myself.
I write the books I like to read, with characters I'd like to meet - well I'd like to meet some of the people in my books.
Because I never quite get it right, I always have to go back and do it again. But it's lovely if someone else enjoys my stories.
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